Hofuna
by Hero of the Dark
Summary: Fifteen year old Alodia Hofuna is the spoiled heir to the Hofuna family fortune, quite possibly the largest fortune in Sinnoh and couldn't be more demanding and self-centered if she tried. But when her Mother and 13 year old sister are kidnapped Alodia finds herself kicked onto the road with a pokemon she didn't want and the teenage children of the Sinnoh champion at her side.
1. Prologue: The Gardner

**Hello, readers! If you're upset about me not updating Shatter the Sun…it's because I like this idea better. *dodges knives* I'm getting quite good at dodging weapons. Anyways, please enjoy! And for the record no, the character in the prologue isn't our main character but he'll play a major role later on. **

Prologue: The Gardner

In his earliest, happiest memories there had been a garden. It was filled with roses of all colors, each tended to with care by the son of the master of the house. He would sit in the bushes and hide so that he could watch the boy gently take care of the flowers. It was a favorite pastime of his up until the time he was nine.

The nine year heir old had been piling up the earth around a violet rose that was threatening to fall over. The boy had been watching from a rose bush as always when he moved his hand back to get into a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, he accidentally pierced his hand on a particularly sharp thorn and was unable to stop a squeak of pain from escaping his lips.

The heir froze, then turned around to face the bush. "Hello?" He called. "Is anyone there?"

The boy in the bushes froze, praying that the heir would think it was his imagination.

No such luck. The boy began to walk over to the bush. "I thought I heard a sound. Are you all right?" He gently took some of the leaves and pushed them away, coming eye to eye with the boy in the bush. The small heir's widened. "What are you doing in there?"

"Uh…sleeping?" He said.

The heir grinned at him. "You don't have to say if you don't want to. Here, let me help you out." He grabbed a few more of the branches in his hands and pulled them away, revealing the boy's entire face.

"T-thanks." The boy said, then stood up and pulled himself out of the rose bush. He dusted a few leaves off his shirt and looked sheepishly at the heir. "Sorry for…uh…sleeping in your rose bush."

"Don't worry about it!" The heir looked at the boy. "Hey, you're the butler's son!"

The boy flinched. "You're not going to fire my dad, right?"

"Why would I do that?" The boy asked. "It's not like you did anything wrong!"

"I slept in your rose bush."

"Well yeah there's that, but it's not so bad besides the fact you've shaken up the flowers. Would you mind helping me fix them?" The boy asked, examining the injured petals of a red rose.

The boy stared. "M-me help you? Oh, no I couldn't! I don't know a thing about gardening!"

"Don't worry about that, I'll teach you!" The heir replied, and sunk down to his knees to look at the flowers on the lower branches. "Come sit." The boy, hardly daring to believe this was happening, sat down next to the heir. Once again the heir smiled at him, then gently cupped one limp blossom in his hand. "First, you need to asses the damage. This one is just a bit shaken up so if we put something under it to support it, like this rock." Here the heir picked up a large stone that had been laying nearby. He delicately lifted the rose blossom before placing the rock under it, then gently rested the flower on the top. "See? Easy! For higher up flowers you have to get better support systems, but we have plenty of stuff like that in the house!" Next he turned to a flower a few inches up and sighed. Good deals of its petals were missing and it dangled off the bush by a half-broken stem. "This one is beyond repair. Sometimes they get a little too injured and you just have to cut them off. I don't enjoy doing this." The heir pulled a pair of large gardener scissors from the bag he wore on his hip and brought them up to the stem from which the ruined flower dangled. "Sometimes, you just have to end it." In one quick movement he brought the scissors together and the rose fell into his ready hand.

"Yeah…" the boy said, looking at the scissors in the boy's hand. "You know…if you like, I'd be glad to do the cutting for you."

The heir brightened instantly. "Really? You would do that?"

"Of course!" The boy replied, delighted at the excited reaction he'd gotten out of the heir.

"Thank you! It just makes me want to cry every time I do it." The heir took the large gardening scissors and gave them to the boy. "Here: these are yours now. And be careful, they're plenty sharp enough to hurt someone with."

The boy took the scissors and held them as if they were made of glass. "I…can keep these?"

The heir nodded. "Well, of course! Just come down here every day at two o'clock and you can help me take care of the garden."

The boy could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Y-yes! I'll make sure to be here on time every day!"

The heir grinned once again. "Great! Now why don't we finish tending to this bush?"

Six years later the boy sits in his small room, looking out the window with a rose plant growing up the side. The rose garden has become less attended to in recent years, only kept from running wild by the boy. In one hand he holds his gardening scissors, sharpening them with a special tool the heir had given him years ago. He rubbed a smudge of dirt off of the shining silver scissors then gently placed the sharpening tool back on the windowsill. He stands up, pushing his chair back a bit and walks out of the room.

It doesn't take him long to get to the garden, following a path through the house that he memorized long ago. "Good Morning!" One of the maids says as he walks by. He ignores her.

When he finally opens the gates to the garden he notes that even more of the roses were showing gray spots in the growing cold. He sighs quietly and pulls out his scissors, cutting of each wilted rose with a quick, practiced snip. The heir might've known how to save them, but the only thing in gardening the boy had been able to get the hang of was the scissors.

He placed the ruined flowers into the pack he wore around his waist he turned to look at the rose bush he had shaken all those years ago. It was now filled with gorgeous, vibrant red roses, from which the boy had cut as few blossoms as possible. "Gorgeous color." He whispered to himself as he walked over a cradled one of the roses high on the bush in the palm of his hand. "It's hard to find this exact shade."

It was then that he noticed the soft sound of weeping. Startled, he looked around. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The crying stopped suddenly and the leaves of a blue rose bush not too far from the one the boy currently stood over shook. He walked over to the blue bush and leaned over it to see a girl about his age looking startled with big, puffy eyes open wide. "O-oh dear, you weren't supposed to see me. I-I checked your schedule! You don't come out here till three o' clock."

"I don't have a schedule." He replied, still leering over the girl. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I-I'm the heir to this house's fiancé." She said, wiping a few tears off her cheeks. "Our parents arranged it. I don't want to marry him! I-I don't love him!"

The boy scowled. This was the girl the heir had blown off working on the garden to spend time with? "Feel lucky, you'll fall for him soon enough. We all do."

The girl blinked a few times, looking surprised. "You're gay?"

"I spend all my time taking care of a rose garden simply because I want to keep it beautiful for the heir to this house. Does that honestly strike you as something a straight fifteen year old would do?" He replied.

She smiled slightly and let out something between a sob and a laugh. "No, I guess not."

The boy nodded. "Stay here for as long you like, I won't bother you as long as you don't injure the flowers." He took his scissors in one hand and began snipping away at dead blossoms on the blue bush. Luckily there were very few.

The girl got up then moved around the bush to sit next to him. "So do you enjoy taking care of the flowers?"

"I used to." The boy replied, placing the last of the blossoms into his pack before standing up and walking to another bush.

"W-wait!" The girl called, stumbling to her feet. He stopped and turned to around to look at her. "Could you teach me how to take care of the roses?"

The boy's eye's narrowed. "I'm really not good at much other than cutting off dead blossoms. You'd be better off asking your fiancé." With that he turned around and left the garden: he could get rid of the other dead roses later.

The next day when he came downstairs he froze in shock. There, standing next to a yellow rose bush, were the heir and his fiancé. "Like this?" The girl said, clumsily holding a watering can in one hand.

The hair placed a hand on hers and delicately steadied the can. "There we go. Now we just carefully stick it through the leaves so the water will go directly to the roots." He replied, using the gardening expertise the servant's son hadn't seen in three years and had feared he would never see again.

The fiancé looked up at the sound of the door slamming behind the boy and smiled. "Oh, it's you! Did you come out here to help with the garden?"

"Yes." The boy managed to choke out through his shock. "But you two seem to have it under control." He looked at the heir. "Do you want your scissors back?"

The heir shook his head a displayed a newer pair. "I got new ones. You can keep those…uh…what's your name."

In that moment the boy's heart shattered into a million pieces. The heir didn't seem to notice how he'd taken care of the garden, and had even forgotten his name. Without a word he raced inside, slamming the door behind him.

He'd close to abandoned the garden over the past three years as it only made tears flow. Under the tender care of the heir and his fiancé the garden had blossomed to its former glory, so there really wasn't any need for him to go there anymore. But today…well, where else could he go?

It was a little after nine o'clock as the boy, young man might be a better term, sat on one of the benches that had recently been set up. It was made of marble with flowery designs on the pegs that held it up. A soft pink rose was winding its was up one leg, reaching about halfway up in the few weeks since it had started to grow. "Like heartbreak." The eighteen year old said to himself. "It moves fast, and even if you rip it from the ground you still prick your hand with the thorns." He took the scissors that he now carried everywhere and snipped the blossom off without even needing to see it properly. "Sometimes things are just a little too inured and you have to cut them off." He muttered under his breath, remembering the first conversation he and the heir had shared.

The sun had set and the full moon was high in the sky. Fireflies danced in the air, giving the rose garden a magical feel. He glanced up at the sky, resisting the urge to scream his frustration to the stars. Instead he just looked at that old red rose bush where he'd first met the heir. Despite the odds it continued to produce beautiful, vibrant red blossoms every year. Unfortunately, from his window the boy had been able to see that each year fewer and fewer blossomed. This time there only three and he knew the bush would probably not survive the coming winter.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" A voice called from the doorway.

The young man turned to see the heir's fiancé and the last bit of hope left him. She looked gorgeous. Everything about her was better than him in every single way. She wore a simple white weeding dress that looked as delicate as glass. A mother-of-pearl necklace adored her neck, shimmering in the moonlight alongside the hand crafted diamond tiara on her head. She didn't wear much makeup, just a little red lip-gloss, a dash of blush, and some pretty silver eye-shadow.

"Hey!" Her voice snapped him out of his trace. She was looking at him with concern from the doorway. "I saw that you weren't at the church so I came back. All the servants were invited, why didn't you come?"

He frowned slightly. "I didn't want to. Is that so wrong?"

"Well it's just that I don't see why not." The skin around the young woman's eyes crinkled as he face turned into one of concern. "Is everything okay?"

The scissors in his hands were ice cold. He glanced down at them, then up at the woman. "You're a weed." He whispered.

The woman blinked a few times, taking a few hesitant steps into the garden. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" She lifted up her dress so not to get it dirty, revealing shimmering silver high heels underneath.

"I said you're a weed." The he said a bit louder, rising to his feet before walking towards the woman.

"E-excuse me?" The woman blinked a few times in utter shock. "W-where did that come from?"

"You latch onto beautiful flowers and steal their resources. Time, money, wealth…it all goes to you." He replied, half-buried anger breaking free with each word. "And the poor flower is left with nothing. Sometimes a weed can be beautiful on the surface, but it's still rotten at its core."

"Oh." The woman said, realization dawning in her eyes. "You're the boy who used to come out here and trim the rose bushes. You…you're still in love with him, aren't you?"

The young man glared at her. "He's a rose, you're a weed. You're undeserving."

"I know. He really is wonderful, isn't he?" The woman said, walking over to him. "And…I'm sorry." She said softly. "I really am." With those words she reached out and curled her arms around the man in a gentle embrace.

For a few seconds she stood there with her eyes closed, gently stroking his back like she might with a small child. Then her eyes shot open. "O-oh." She said weakly. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground, the young man making no attempts to catch her.

After a few seconds he silently knelt down next her now limp body and pulled his gardening scissors out of her blood stained chest. "He's a rose and you are a weed." He said again. "And weeds have no place in this garden." With the removal of the scissors a fresh gush of blood burst from the wound, creating a large splotch on the dress the same color as the roses on his favorite bush.

For a minute or so there was silence as the young man tried to rub the blood off the scissors with his shirt. The murder itself didn't shock him. After all, he was just getting rid of a rather nasty weed. What annoyed him is that the blood wouldn't come off, instead coating his shirt and hands in red liquid. With a snort of frustration he began trying to use his pant leg instead.

"I suggest dish soap and water." A voice said from behind him.

The young man froze. Then, after a moment he slowly turned around to face the figure standing by his favorite rose bush. "Are you going to tell the police?" He asked.

"Now why would I do that? You're the first of the seven I've been looking for." The woman walked over to the young man and gave him a light, motherly kiss on his forehead. "My sweet little Envy."

**And that is that! And don't worry this is a pokemon fic, this dude simply did not own any. But he did own a pair of scissors and…well…we can all see how that turned out. **

**Hawk: No shit, Sherlock. **

**Me: Shut it, Hawk! **

**Penelope: OMG that ending was so SAD! And so ominous, to! **

**Me: *anger mark* how did you two even get here?**

**Hawk: Well we are the personifications of various parts of your personality. **

**Me and Penelope: O_O**

**Hawk: What?**

**Penelope: You're her rough-n-tumble, rebellious side. Where the heck did that came from?**

**Unnamed Foxlike Creature: That's kind of my job. I am her proud, intelligent and witty side. Plus I'm the only one to have merged with her. **

**Penelope and Hawk: Only during end of the year exams! *stare at each other in shock* **

**Me: Uh…this is getting weird…and I don't feel like explaining merging so…goodnight, fanfiction! **

**-Hero of the Dark**


	2. Chapter 1: The Heiress

**Hello! This chapter was finished earlier than expected at the request of TeaKat, this storie's first reviewer and a new fanfiction friend of mine. This was finished at four in the morning because I was stupid enough to agree to watch the weeping angels episode of Doctor Who right before bed with my family and then I couldn't sleep. Couldn't even turn the lights off without my imagination and spooked-ness getting the best of me. *shudders* freaky. Anways, please enjoy! **

Chapter 1: The Heiress

"Alodia! Hey, Alodia! Up with you!" Someone was poking me. Someone. Was. Poking. Me. And only one person does that.

"I swear Emily if you don't stop that I will hire someone to kick your ass." I growled into my swan feather pillow.

"Great, you're awake! Now get up." Silence. "Alodia…"

"I'm serious, Emily. I'm sure I could get some lowly commoner hit man for five hundred bucks or less." I replied. "How much money will it take for you to let me keep sleeping?"

"You know I don't work that way, Alodia! Money can't buy everything."

"Yes it can. And, by extent, I can have whatever I want. And I want more sleep. What time is it, anyways?"

"Well someone's demanding!" Emily said with a sniff. "Besides, you know I can't tell time."

"Then ring up a servant to tell you. And while you're at it get them to bring us some breakfast." I buried my face deeper into my pillow. "It's not your place to wake me up anyways."

"Well I am the daughter of the champion."

"That means nothing to me. Now shut it and let me sleep."

"Not everything is about how much money you have, Alodia."

"Didn't I tell you to ring up a servant?"

"I already did before I started trying to wake you up. Now up with you! You're too stubborn." She's poking me again. "Poke poke poke, poke poke poke. I am poking Alo-di-a." She sang.

"I'm serious. I'll hire someone to hurt you."

"I know you will. You do it at least once and week and my pokemon decimate them every time!"

…

…

…

"Alright, how much money do you wa-"

"Can't say I didn't give you a chance! Aqua, you know what to do."

And I'm flat on my back on the marble floor, soaked to the bone courtesy of my best friend's Empoleon. I pull my wet hair out from in front of my face and was unsurprised to find Emily sitting on my bed, swinging her legs back and forth without a care in the world. Emily's shorter than me, around 5'5 with shoulder blade length brown hair and sightless green eyes. She's wearing a light cream top, blue jean shorts, and no shoes. I glare at her partner pokemon which is standing next to her and grinning. "I'm going to hire someone and-"

"I know you will, Alodia. Now get up: the servant will be here any minute with food!"

…

….

…

"Aqua use-"

"Fine, I'm up!" I snapped, attempting to pull myself to my feet only to slip and smash my head into the floor. "Ow, my head! My billion dollar head!"

Emily winced, turning her eyes in my general direction. "That made a pretty large conk. Are you bleeding?"

"I hit the back of my head, how am I supposed to know?" I replied.

"Hehe…sorry. Aqua, could you help her up?" Emily said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Empoleon." The large water starter says and picks me up with ease.

"My word!" A pair of breakfast trays clatters to the ground as the servant in the doorway stares at me in shock. "Lady Alodia, what on earth happened to you?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Get me a clean outfit, a towel, and fresh breakfast trays."

"Yes, my lady." The servant bowed and quickly scurried away.

Next I looked up at Aqua. "Set me down next to Emily." Aqua just looks at me.

"Please do it, Aqua." Emily said. Aqua nodded and sat me down next to Emily.

"I thought you told that pokemon to listen to me." I said, crossing my wet arms over my nightdress.

"I did. Doesn't mean she listened." Emily replied with shrug and a slight smirk.

"I bet she'd listen if I bought her enough treats."

"Aqua doesn't work that way either, Alodia." Emily said. "Pokemon tend to take after their trainers, you know." Aqua nodded in agreement.

"Lady Alodia, I've returned with the requested items." The servant was in the doorway again, this time holding the requested supplies.

"Good. Set them on the bed." I said. The servant obeyed, bowed, and left.

I got up and pulled my soaking wet nightgown off, unconcerned with Emily's presence. She's blind, it's not like she could see me. I dried myself as best as I could then pulled on the dark purple dress I'd been supplied with. I tried to wrap the towel around my hair but failed. "Emily, get my hair in the towel." I handed the fluffy item to the girl. She shrugged and quickly did so with a practiced grace.

"There. Can we eat now?" She asked, sniffing the air.

"Sure." I picked up one of the trays and placed it in front of her. "Scrambled eggs, top left. Hashbrowns, bottom left. Pancakes, center. Napkin and silverware center right. Fresh squeezed orange juice, top right." After telling her where everything was so she didn't stick her hands in the eggs I wrinkled my nose. "This is kind of a low class meal, don't you think?"

"No." Emily replied, picking up her fork and jabbing them into her eggs. She lifted it to her mouth and took a bite. "Yum!"

"You just got egg on your nose." I said, then proceeded to take a bite of my pancakes. "Did you forget to order syrup?"

Emily froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. "Uh…oops?"

-Hofuna-

"So what do you want to do today?" Emily asked as we headed down the hallways of my house. "Snowboarding? I'm sure your mom wouldn't mind if we took the jet to Snowpoint. It would only be for the day anyways."

"We did that last week." I replied. "Besides, if I hadn't warned you about that cliff ledge in time you'd be in the hospital right now."

"Good point." It was quiet for a minute or so. "How about we go to the beach at Hotel Grand Lake?"

"Works with me." I said, then turned to a passing maid "Have the jet ready to fly in thirty minutes. We'll be going to the beach at Hotel Grand Lake so have beach bags prepared as well." The maid bowed and continued down the hall.

"So what do we do for thirty minutes?" Emily asked.

I looked down the hallway. "If you remember correctly the jet is kept at the other end of the house. About twenty five of those thirty minutes will be spent walking there."

-Hofuna-

"So what do I have to put on?" Emily asked as the jet smoothly landed next to the hotel.

I glanced down into her bag. "Green bikini."

"Ah, shoot. I was hoping for a tankini." Emily said, pulling the two pieces out of the bag. "What did you get?"

"Orange one piece." I frowned. "And made of common swimming material, too."

"Want to switch?"

"And get stared at by boys I could buy out of house and home? I'll pass."

"Aw…" Emily pouted for a minute more then got to her feet. "Could you change in the bathroom? I may not be able to see you but you can still see me."

"Fine." I said. I took my bathing suit out of the bag and walked towards the bathroom. "You're lucky it's large or I'd make you change in there."

"I know you would, Alodia." Emily replied as I shut the door behind me. I rolled my eyes before I pulled off my dress and undergarments and pulled on the orange bathing suit. The material was itchy and tight, I would have to have a word with the staff about getting me the proper clothing when we returned. I waited for a minute until Emily called "okay, you can come out now."

I walked out of the bathroom to find Emily standing in her bathing suit next to the door with both beach bags in hand. "Come on, let's go swim!" She said. "Will you open the door? I can't remember where the knob is."

I sighed and grabbed hold of the desired item. "It's to your left by about two inches." I pulled it open to find the pilot had already set up the ramp. "You remember how to get down the ramp, right?"

"Of course!" Emily replied and happily skipped down the ramp. "Do we need to check in before we go to the beach?"

"The pilot is taking care of it. That's his job, after all. We can just head straight down to the beach." I stepped out onto the runway and looked down the long path that led straight to the beach. "Follow me."

"Just keep talking and I'll know where to go."

All in all we had an excellent day at the beach. A few commoner boys flirted with Emily, which the both of us found annoying. After a bit Emily brought out Aqua and ordered her to blast any boy who tried to flirt with her. Needless to say we were left alone after that. We went swimming and ate lunch at the Seven Stars Eatery and while there Emily came up with the idea of surfing on Aqua. Despite the connection with her partner and all the training she's gone through to predict movement through the use of sound a sudden turn took her by surprise and she wiped out.

After that we just stuck to swimming.

The sun was setting as the jet approached the house. I was just nodding off when the intercom crackled to life and the pilot spoke. "Girls, I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem. If you'll look to your left you'll see the mansion and…it's not looking great."

I instantly darted to the window and stared in shock out the window. The mansion was completely surrounded by security. Police cars, helicopters. "What is the meaning of this?" I shrieked.

"What's happening? Tell me, Alodia!" Emily said, face pressed hard against the window as if she would suddenly regain her sight if she stared hard enough.

"The whole place is crawling with police." I said, still staring down. "It's…it's awful."

"Oh Arceus…" was all Emily managed. "What now?"

"Calm down, girls. I've got one of the officers on the line." The intercom crackled once again and went dead.

For a few minutes we sat, hovering over the house in tense silence. Eventually we heard the tell-tale sign of the intercom coming on, attracting both mine and Emily's attention. "Girls, I'm sorry to say this but there's been a kidnapping. Alodia, I've been ordered to get you to a safe place. Any suggestions?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. "Oh, Arceus." I said feebly. "My mother, my little sister. I feel sick." Emily placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Take us to my house." She said. "My dad's the champion, so we live in the Pokemon League with the Elite Four and their families. Doesn't get much safer than that."

"Right, we'll head there. If you need to you can call your dad. Just keep it short, okay?"

"Roger that."

Once the intercom turned off Emily returned her attention to me and began gently stroking my back. "Come on, we don't even know that's who they kidnapped. Maybe one of the maids was secretly an undercover spy."

"No…why break into a mansion and kidnap anyone but the multi billionaire and her daughter?" I replied. "This doesn't make sense…so much security…who could get past that? I think I'm going to be sick." And I was. It was disgusting, seeing my lunch come up again in the form of yellow, acid-like liquid.

Behind me Emily held my hair and continued to gently stroke my back with the other hand. "I'm so sorry, Alodia." She said softly.

"There's got to be a way to fix this." I croaked out, the last of the contents of my stomach dribbling to the floor. "I could hire a private investigator. Or I could pay the person who brings them back five million dollars. That could work. Right?" I looked up at Emily.

"Don't worry, I'm sure the kidnappers will demand a ransom. Then we just give them the money and you'll have your family back." Emily replied. "Look, I may not be able to see what you look like right now but I bet it isn't good. Go lay down on the foldout bed and try to get some sleep."

"But the blankets are made of cotton."

"Have you ever slept in cotton sheets?"

"No."

"You'll love it. Come on." I allowed Emily to help me to my feet and lead me over to where I knew the foldout bed was. I, who had never done a bit of manual labor in my entire life, simply watched as Emily searched for the place to grab then pulled the bed out. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the quality. It was tiny and the sheets were clearly nothing compared to what was on my bed back home. "I know you're not impressed. Just lay down, in your state you should fall asleep quickly." Emily said, sitting down on the couch next to it.

"Fine." I said, trying not to betray the fact I knew she was right. I lay down and pulled the sheets up to my neck. Even though the pillow was flat, the blankets itched, and the bed was tiny beyond reason I quickly fell asleep.

-Hofuna-

My first thought the next morning was that I needed to fire the maid who replaced my pillows and sheets, this felt downright awful. The pillow was flat, the sheets thin and itchy, and the mattress too stiff. I tried to do a full roll to see if that would make it any better and ended rolling off onto the carpeted floor. This was not my bed.

Then I remembered why I wasn't in my own bed and the pain in my head didn't seem so bad by comparison. I blinked my eyes open. I was in a room that, by my standards, was small beyond reason. The floor was covered in brown carpet, the walls were light yellow, and the bed was white. This was where Emily lived? No wonder she delighted in getting away from here once a week.

"Hm? Oh, you're awake." I turned to see a woman around twenty standing in the doorway. "That's good." She had purple hair (her roots were growing in blonde) in a ponytail so long it brushed the floor, yellow-brown eyes and fair skin. She also wore a v-neck t shirt and jeans but what really attracted my attention was the gruesome scar that ran from the base of her neck to under her shirt. "Helllloooo? Eyes up here." She said, and I looked up to find she was smirking. "I'm Alex. You're Alodia Hofuna, right?"

That's when it clicked. This woman –whoever she was- was clearly a commoner. So, like any decent lady I stuck my nose in the air and said "I don't talk to commoners."

The woman shrugged. "Eh, like I care. Oh, and this is just a suggestion but you might want to get off the floor. The boss and his daughter don't bother cleaning up in here very often." And she left. Just like that.

"Hey come back here and bring me something to eat!" I shouted.

The woman poked her head back into the room. "Do it yourself. I'm not your servant."

"E-excuse me?" I gawked at the woman. "If you're not a servant, then what are you?"

"Elite Four member. You know, Alex the Merciless Toxic Maiden?"

"Emily spoke about you once or twice." I replied, my look of shock quickly melting into a frown. "If you're not a servant than who is going to get me breakfast?"

"I already told you to get it yourself." Alex replied, back to her original position of standing in the doorway. "But I'll show you to the kitchen if you want."

"That's below me." I replied. "Get me something."

"No."

It turned into a staring contest, her yellow brown eyes against my dark brown ones. I had inherited mom's eyes, but unfortunately not her death stare. Finally I could stand Alex's smoldering glare no longer and looked away. "Fine. But this is still below me!"

"Get used to it, kiddo. By all standards we've got it good here." Alex stretched, then looked down at me. "You coming?"

I sighed in obvious complaint, but got to my feet anyways. "Yes, I'm coming."

"Good" with that, Alex walked out of the doorway and headed down the hall.

My eye's widened. "Hey, slow down!"

"You speed up!" And with that she started jogging.

"This is completely below me!" I shouted back as I started racing down the hallway after her.

-Hofuna-

The second Alex opened the door my hands flew to my ears. The kitchen was small, loud, and chaotic. At least five people sat in chairs around the table in the center of the room. They were talking, eating commoner's food and laughing. "Morning!" Alex said, walking over to the fridge and pulling a carton of milk out. I just stood in the doorway, shocked by the state of the room. "I brought the other kiddo."

"Alodia!" A familiar voice from the table yelled. Next thing I know Emily had jumped up from where she sat next to her father, raced over to me, and embraced me in a huge bear hug. "Good to see you up!"

"Uh…yeah. Good to see you too." I replied.

Emily pulled back and grabbed me by the hand. "I saved you a seat. Come on." And with that I found myself pulled into the room and sat down in one of the poor quality, stiff wooden chairs. Emily sat back down on my left and cheerfully took a bite of her toast.

"Anyone want anything while I'm up?" Alex asked, putting away a carton of cereal.

"Make me a sandwich, bitch!" A red haired young man who looked around twenty one shouted.

Alex pulled out a jar of peanut butter and threw it at him, hitting him square in the forehead. Apparently this happened a lot because when he fell to the floor with an undignified yelp everyone laughed. "The bread's on the table." Alex called to him, then picked up two bowls of cereal and sat down on my right. She placed one of the bowls in front of me. "Here. It's no gourmet meal but try not to spit it out on us, kay?" Unless you want to spit it on Ryan." She nodded at the young man who was pulling himself back into his chair. "That's perfectly acceptable."

She had no place telling me what to do, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. I picked up the spoon, a pathetic excuse for silverware if I've ever seen one, and scooped up a bite of the low quality meal. The second I put it in my mouth I discovered why Alex had warned me. I resisted the urge to do a million dollar spit take and forced myself to swallow the foul mixture. Is this what passed for food these days? "Someone get me a cup of tea."

"We have ginger ale. I think you'll like that." Emily replied. She got to her feet, walked over to the fridge, and was back in just a minute with a commoner's cup filled with strange liquid. She placed it in front of me.

I picked it up and looked warily at its contents. "What is this?"

"I already you: its ginger ale!" Emily replied cheerfully. "Take a sip."

"Well…okay." I lifted it to my lips and sipped. This time I really did do a spit take, but I hadn't drunk enough to get anyone wet. "Oh my goodness! It's all fizzy and bubbly."

"Well duh, that's what it's supposed to taste like." Emily replied. "Sorry, I forgot you've never drunk soda before."

"Never drunk soda!" Ryan shouted. "That's got to be some sort of crime."

"Shush." A woman in her forties flicked him in the side of the head. "Soda is horrible for you anyways."

"Ow! Is it just pick on Ryan day or something?" He complained.

"Well you got to admit we do get the best reactions out of you." An African American man said, looking up from his novel.

"And how would you feel if someone stole your book, Mr. The unbeatable flying master?" Ryan said, still pouting.

"The culprit would die in minutes." He turned the page. "Now shush, I want to finish this chapter."

"Aw, come on Helio!" Emily complained. "You promised you'd train with me this morning!"

"And I will. Once I finish this chapter."

While I was watching Emily and Helio, something was shoved in my mouth. I spat it out to find it was a piece of toast, low quality but better than the cereal. "If you're not going to eat your cereal at least eat that." Alex said, revealing she was the culprit and ignoring my glare. "Knowing this group's way of doing things you're going to need some energy." She picked up her bowl and with one large slurp downed the rest of the foul mixture. I wrinkled my nose at the sight and picked up the piece of bread. In a very unlady like fashion I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth and swallowed as quickly as possible. I could bear this, but it was still far below my standards.

Alex picked up both bowls, placing my full one on top of her empty one and stood up. "Well I'm off. Any signs of trainers?

"One." The older woman said. "A fourteen year old girl. All Kanto gym badges, team of six in the forty five to fifty level range. Types include grass/poison, flying/normal, bug, water, psychic, fighting, and fire. Need any more information?"

"Nope, that'll do. This shouldn't take long." Alex placed the bowls in the sink and headed out the door.

Helio closed his book. "Ready, Emily?"

Emily got to her feet. "Yep! I'll see you later, Alodia." And with that she headed out of the room.

"I believe our leader has something to discuss with our guest." The woman rose to her feet and nodded to me. "I'm Leah, psychic specialist and final member of the Elite Four. Nice to meet you." With that she left.

Ryan got to his feet and stretched his arms up over his head. "Well I'm going to follow the other's lead. See ya later." And he too was gone.

I looked to Emily's father. He was a close friend of my own father but I'd only met him a few times. He and Emily shared their skin tone and eyes, but his hair was black and his cheekbones thicker. "Leah said you had something to discuss with me."

"Yes, about that…you see, it's about the kidnapping yesterday." My stomach dropped. "We've received a letter from a mysterious new group. They haven't demanded a ransom, it simply warned the police that if they got any more involved they'd start finding the heads of civilians."

"So? Continue with the search! This is my family. Half those people wouldn't even be employed without us."

"Better poor than dead." He replied, giving me a disapproving frown. "We've discussed it with the police force and decided to try and get as many young people out on pokemon journeys as possible. Among them will be undercover police with the aim of taking down this organization. Emily agreed to help, on one condition. She wants you to come along."

For a minute there was silence as my mouth opened and closed like a fish, my eyes wide with shock. Finally I managed to stutter out "are you serious?"

"I'm dead serious. Emily and her older brother" at my look of shock he smiled slightly. "Their mother and I are divorced. Jake decided to stay with his mother while Emily chose to stay with me. Emily and her older brother Jake are two of the trainers we're counting on inspiring others to head out again. They're going to face all the gym leaders in Sinnoh again and join in every tournament they find along the way. Leah's twin sons are also part of this as is Helio's niece and Alex's younger sister. But those two, the renowned children on the champion and the final, strongest gym leader will be the main focus."

It took a minute, but I managed to get a hold of myself. I stuck my nose in the air as my mother had taught me and frowned. "And just why would I ever do something as low as that?"

"Because the lives of your mother and sister may depend on it." I stared into the green eyes that were so similar to Emily's and knew he was dead serious.

For what could have been three minutes or three hours I stared at him blankly on the outside while on the inside I was at war.

_This is completely below you! You are from the house of Hofuna, leave this silly matter to the police!_

_But they're also from the house of Hofuna! They're your family! Not to mention your best friend is counting on you._

_Excuse me? Are you sure we're the same person? As I already said, this is completely below you! It's not like Emily won't go if you don't! _

_There's no guarantee of that, and even if she does go she'll feel so betrayed! For the first time in your life people are counting on you, are you really going to let them down?_

My internal battle was interrupted by Emily's father suddenly breaking the silence. "Oh, I almost forgot! I have something for you." He began rummaging around in his bag, pulling out several things along the way. I saw two pokeballs, a calendar, some blankets, and a travel sized container of pokemon food. All were surprisingly high quality in comparison to the other things I'd seen here.

"How did you even fit all of this stuff in that bag?" I asked as a pokemon comb went sliding across the table.

"Trainer's bags are designed to be small on the outside and huge on the inside. There's really no limit to how much you can fit in here." He replied as continued to throw stuff out, almost hitting me in the face with an ultra ball. I was getting ready to yell at him for that when he practically shouted "ah, here we are!" He gently put his hands into the bag and pulled the item out, cradling it gently in his arms as if it were a baby.

As it turns out it was a baby of sorts. A pokemon egg. The egg was the typical green, but yet inside it I could swear I saw something moving.

It was almost like the time when… "Shit." I said under my breath. "Of all the times to remember things like that…"

The thing was, the egg reminded me of the one my little sister Camillia used to have. It was probably two years ago, when she was still a sweet little eleven year old girl. She was taking a break from her journey for a few weeks and had told me she had something exciting to show me. So I let her lead me to her room, where she sat down on the bed and, with delight and joy in her eyes, held up an egg. "It's the first one I've ever gotten!" She had said. "The nice man at the daycare said it didn't have an owner and asked if I'd like to have it. He told me how to take care of it and how to know when it's about to hatch. According to what he told me, it should hatch soon." She cradled it in her arms and looked at me with such delight in her eyes that I couldn't help but smile.

"Alodia? Are you okay?" The man's voice snapped me back to reality and I was shocked to find my eyes were watering. I quickly used my hands to wipe them dry.

"I'm fine." I managed to choke out, still thinking of my sister. "I'll…I'll do it. It's completely and utterly below me, but I'll do it."

**Done! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter half as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**-Hero of the Dark**


	3. Chapter 2: The Bird

**Chapter 2! It's done! Yaaaaay! *dances* sorry about taking so long to update, as well as the fact this chapter is shorter than the others and really is more filler than anything else. Nothing of extreme value happens in this chapter, but it was still fun to write! And as far as reasons for taking so long to update go, I was sick from Wednesday to Saturday last week, and from that point on I was up to my ears in make up homework and just getting everything done. I should really be working on my Science Fair project (it's required at my school) but I'm staying at my grandmother's for the day so…yeah. XD Anyways, on with the story! **

Chapter 2: The Bird

"Clothes?"

"Check."

"Pokeballs?"

"Check."

"Good excuse for me doing something to help when I didn't want to come in the first place?"

"…nope."

I was sitting on the bed in Emily's room with a checklist in hand while she double checked to make sure we had everything we needed. Emily went on a journey herself before with just her and her pokemon, so she knows how to identify stuff by touch.

I looked down to the list in my hand and gave a sigh of annoyance. "Is it really necessary to drag me along?"

"You need the fresh air, Alodia!" Emily replied, before jerking her hand out of the worn blue bag with a yelp. "Scissors…check."

I rolled my eyes and checked it off the list. "That just leaves your pokemon belt and…duct tape?"

"Never underestimate the power of duct tape!"

"…what's duct tape?"

Emily just stared at me. Or…she tried to. She was off by about a foot. "Duct tape is the most amazing thing used for putting other things back together ever invented! How on earth have you never heard of it?"

"Well I've never had to put other things back together before." I replied with a raised eyebrow. "So…duct tape?"

"Check!"

I checked it off. "Your pokemon belt?"

"Uh…" she began feeling around for it. "I don't know! I already put all my pokemon in my belt so I can't call one of them out to help! Alodia, help me look for it!"

"Are you serious? Just call the servants to find it for you."

"Alodia you've been here for two days. We don't have servants, remember?"

"Oh…right."

Emily sighed in exasperation. "Now will you please help me find my belt? It has all my pokemon on it and- oh, I'm already wearing it. Never mind!"

I looked at her blankly for a moment. "Pokemon belt…check. That's everything on the list."

"Awesome!" Emily closed the worn purple messenger bag with a clearly practiced grace. She swung it over her shoulder and picked up the other one, which she then held out to me. "Here you go!"

After all these years it was still frustrating when Emily couldn't tell I was glaring at her with fire in my eyes. Nevertheless I took the brand new yellow bag and pulled it up on my shoulder. It was made of some commoner material and much heavier than anything I normally carried. Come to think of it the whole outfit I was wearing, while brand new, was clearly commoner wear. A simple green t-shirt (my request for white had been turned down due to how easily it stained), blue jean shorts and hiking boots. My long hair had been jerked into a ponytail by an unforgiving Alex earlier that day.

"Ready to head out?" Emily's voice jerked me out of my thoughts. "Helio has three of his pokemon ready to fly us to Sunnyshore to get Jake then all the way to SandjemTown!"

I wrinkled my nose. I'd heard of SandjemTown before, Pokemon professor and all, but I never thought I'd actually be going to a place with the word town in it. "Fine. But let it be known I am not at all happy about being dragged along on this…whatever it is."

"A repeat journey! And your first journey to boot! Now let's get going!" And with that Emily jumped up and ran for the door. But she forgot the door was closed and slammed face-first into it, falling back on her butt. "Ow…"

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Get up, will you? I'll open the door." I did so and stepped out into the pathetically small hallway.

"I'm up!" Emily shouted, scrambling to her feet. "Don't leave me in the doorway!"

"I'm right here." I said dryly.

"Oh…right. Should I go ahead and bring one of my pokemon now? Because I'll have to have at least one out at all times once we get started you know." Emily asked, turning towards me.

"You're the trainer." I said. "Where are we meeting Helio?"

"His dueling room. Follow me!" And with that she headed down the hallway with me reluctantly walking behind.

We climbed quite a few staircases on our way there (this place was bigger than I thought) and eventually arrived at a wooden door with two white wings and the words "Third Elite Four Member Dueling Room (Helio)" painted on it.

"Are we at the right door?" Emily asked, one hand on the silver knob that led inside.

"Looks like it." I said. "It says Third Elite Four Member Dueling Room."

"That's the one!" Emily said and opened the door.

The room was bigger than I expected. A massive rock battle area with the Pokemon League Logo on it took up most of the room. On each side of the battle area were two elevated platforms, probably for the trainers to stand on. Across from us was a blue scoreboard, even bigger than most of the televisions back home, though it was currently turned off. But the number one thing that caught my attention would have to be the fact there wasn't a roof. The room just let out to the open sky. The sky itself was currently a pleasant shade of blue and because of the lack of a roof a light breeze flew around the room.

"Mothim!" I was surprised enough to jump a good foot when the moth-like pokemon zipped out of seemingly nowhere and attached itself to Emily's shoulder. "Moth, moth!" It said and began rubbing its face against Emily's cheek.

"Lily!" Emily said happily. "It's good to see you! How's training with Helio been going?"

"Excellent, I'd say." I may not have jumped again when Helio dropped from the sky next to me but I was effectively startled. "That's one strong pokemon you've got there. You've trained her well."

"Well thank you for watching her!" Emily replied, now gently scratching one of the pokemon's wings. I'd seen Emily's Mothim Lily on a couple of occasions, but that was about all I could say as far as my knowledge of the creature. "She really enjoys flying around with your pokemon."

"That I can tell." Helio said with a chuckle. I could safely say this way the first time I'd seen him without a book in hand. No, scratch that. There was one poking out of his bag.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and spoke up for the first time we'd been in the room. "Well? How is this going to work? And I hope you picked a suitable pokemon because I won't ride on just anything."

"Don't worry Alodia I knew you would say that. Emily, Edgar will be taking you as you're the lightest and your experience with flying. Alodia you're going to ride with Jane as this is your first time flying with a pokemon and your high standards. Mark will go along with you over the water route and fly Jake once you reach Sunnyshore." Helio said. "I'd recommend returning Lily."

Emily nodded and rubbed her hands along the pokeballs on her belt, passing over the first two before pulling the third one out. "Lily, return." She said and pressed the button on the side. A red light streamed out and Lily was recalled into her pokeball. Emily then put the pokeball back on her belt and began to work to make sure there was no chance of it slipping and falling into the sea.

While she did this I turned to Helio. "Tell me more about Jane. What species of pokemon is she?"

Helio just looked up to the sky and called. "Jane! Come down, Alodia wants to meet you!"

"Togekiss!" A pokemon called from high above. Soon the same pokemon was spiraling down to land elegantly by Helio. It was large, about even with my chest at its highest point with blue and red patterned white feathers.

I looked at it for a minute and, after deciding it looked as if it would meet my standards I turned to Helio. "What is it?"

"She's a Togekiss. One of the calmest and by for the gentlest pokemon I have." Helio said, gently stroking her feathers lovingly. "It'd be best if you took her for a test ride before you and Emily head out."

I looked at the pokemon and frowned. "What kind of shampoo do you use on her feathers?"

"Its top grade, I promise. Now get on." He patted Jane's head lightly. "She won't bite, I promise."

I rolled my eyes, but walked over to the pokemon. I looked down onto her back, then up at Helio. "Um…"

"Don't worry, I've only met a handful of people who know instinctively how to fly on a pokemon." Helio walked over to me from the other side of the large pokemon and patted her on the back. "Just climb up right here. I put a collar on her for this occasion so you'll have something to hold onto, so grab that once you get on."

"Normally I'm the one giving orders." I grumbled, but did as I was told and climbed onto the bird's back. She was tall and I had to struggle for a minute, but I eventually got on. Sitting in a rather uncomfortable position with my messenger bag digging into my side I searched around the pokemon's neck for the collar. I found it easily, a simple thing made of strange, stiff material, and grabbed hold before turning to Helio for further instruction.

He nodded his approval. "Now stretch your legs out and wrap them around her sides. If the wind gets bad on your flight all you have to do is press yourself against Jane and you'll be fine."

I did so, stretching my body out so it wasn't all cramped together. I wrapped my legs around the pokemon's torso to where they reached about halfway down, as far as my legs would go. "Excellent." Helio said. "Now, hold on tight!"

I only had enough time to shout "what?!" before the togekiss' wings came out and I was lifted high into the air. I couldn't help but let out a small whimper as the ground grew smaller underneath me. I tightened my grip on Jane's collar and buried my face into her soft feathers, a pleasant relief from all in irritating fabrics commoners used. But I wasn't in any state to enjoy it. "Take me down." I squeaked. "Put me back on the ground."

"Toge?" Jane sounded confused. I looked up to see her face, which was a mistake as the background grabbed my attention. In just a few seconds we had flown out of the roofless room into open sky. A few flying pokemon glided through the air, but that was all I saw before my face was once again pressed into Jane's upper back.

"Take me down!" I ordered, this time managing to make my voice a bit firmer despite the conditions.

"Kiss, togekiss." Jane said, clearly trying to convey some sort of message. But then Helio called Jane's name, loud enough to be heard from so high up. Instantly, Jane headed back down.

I still held on with all my might even when she landed safely back on the ground. After a minute or so Emily said "you can let go now, Alodia."

"Absolutly not!" I said. "I'll fall!"

"No you won't. You're back on the ground. I'm sorry if Jane scared you, my pokemon and I forget that people can be uncomfortable with heights." Helio said.

"I'm fine with heights, I ride in a jet all the time. It's having nothing but a pokemon between me and certain death that concerns me!" I snapped.

"I promise that Jane won't let you fall." Helio said. "Ask Emily about her comfort with my pokemon."

I raised my head just enough to see Emily nodding at me. "I trust Helio's pokemon to get us to SandgemTown 100%. If you don't believe me, just look what I'm riding!" It was then that I noticed Emily was hovering a few feet off the ground. One of her arms was high in the air and I looked up to see a Honchcrow firmly holding her around the wrist with its talons. I stared. "Well? Say something!" Emily said after a minute. "I can't see your face you know."

"Uh…" was all I managed.

Emily smiled. "Well in a way it's kind of easier for me because I can't see the ground shrink away. Are you ready?"

"Of course not!" I snapped.

"…will you be ready soon?"

"No!"

"Well if that's the case you two may as well be on your way. I want to finish my novel." With that Helio snapped his fingers and both pokemon took to the skies.

"Again?!" I shouted as the ground once again grew small underneath me. I held on tightly to Jane's collar and buried my face back in her feathers.

"Woo-hoo!" Emily shouted as we stopped rising and headed left. "Open your eyes Alodia, Helio says it's an amazing view!"

"No!" I said, my hair flying in the wind. "This is completely insane!"

"Well will you at least check to make sure Mark is following us?" Emily said in response, having to shout to be heard over the wind.

For a minute I silently considered it, then shouted. "Fine! But you owe me!" And I lifted my head, turning around as best I could without moving my legs or taking my hands off the collar. I tried to ignore the clouds whipping by as we flew and focused on the pokemon following us. I didn't know what it was, but it was flying, so I assumed it was the third pokemon Helio had sent to carry Jake. "Yes, it's following us!" And with that I shoved my face into Jane's feathers once again and tried to get the image of nothing but air around us out of my head. "Forget owing me, you're now my slave for the rest of your life!"

Emily laughed. "Sure, Alodia!"

"…shut up."

-Hofuna-

I had never been good with telling time, so I didn't really have any idea how long we were flying. Either way I didn't enjoy the experience. Because Emily couldn't see and I refused to look up our only warning of our descent was when Jane tilted down and began to head down. My initial reaction was to tighten my grip on her collar (I'm sure it would leave marks in my skin) and shriek in surprise. "We're here! The pokemon are landing!" Emily shouted from nearby.

"Excellent, I can't wait to get off this deathtrap!" I shouted back. You needed to shout to be heard over the sound of the wind that was now howling in our ears.

"They're not deathtraps they're pokemon!"

"Same thing to me!"

"Well if you fall, which you won't, Jane will catch you before you hit the ground! Won't you Jane?"

"Toge, togekiss!"

"See?"

"Whatever! Just get me back on the ground!"

"You're already on it!"

"…Wait, WHAT? I tentatively opened my eyes to see that we had landed on the outskirts of the city while Emily had been distracting me. I glared at her. "I hate you so much."

Emily burst out laughing. I crawled off Jane while still glaring at her resentfully. As soon as I did so both of the pokemon dashed off into the sky. "Don't worry, they're going to wait for us at the gym." Emily said, still giggling.

I frowned. "Why didn't they just take us to the gym?"

"I thought you wanted to be back on the ground. Besides, they need to rest for a little bit." Emily turned towards the city. "Well, time to bring out Aqua!" And with that Emily pulled the first pokeball off her belt and tossed it into the air. The familiar penguin pokemon looked around for a minute before walking up to Emily. "Hey there, Aqua! We've got to pick up Jake so I need you to lead us to the gym." Emily pulled a light blue leash out of her bag and put it around Aqua's head. She took the other side of the leash in hand and turned to face the city. "Come on, Alodia!" And with that she was off, laughing and running at full speed.

"Hey, wait up! Running is for commoners!" I shouted and began chasing after her.

"Well you better get over it real soon or you're going to get left behind!" Emily replied, laughing.

"Dammit Emily!" I was breathing hard, while far in front of me Emily and her Empoleon hadn't even broke a sweat. Sunnyshore wasn't a city I visited a lot so I had absolutely no idea where we were. "This is completely ridiculous!"

"But isn't it fun?"

"No!"

A young man known as Special Agent Jumper, a member of the Project to save the Hofunas, chuckled as the two girls ran past him. "Kids."

**Do you like it? Does it suck? Anyways I've decided to start responding to reviews so here goes. **

**TeaKat-I'm very pleased with how the Elite Four turned out! I've had Alex in my head for the longest, then Ryan. The other two I just kinda came up with on the spot. XP **

**The Neverending Meep-Thanks for the tip, Dean. And I actually do proofread all my writing, I just tend to miss stuff. D:**

**Daysky-Thanks a bunch! And you know, if you're gonna read chapter one could you review it too? **

**That is all! Until next time.**

**-Hero of the Dark **


	4. Chapter 3: The Gym Trainer

**Welcome to chapter three! Sorry it took me so long to get up, I've been drowning in homework and I lost my laptop charger. I'm writing this on the main computer. I had a great deal of fun writing this chapter: the chemistry between Emily, Alodia, and Jake is just so fun to write! You've already seen how Alodia and Emily interact, and I personally think that you'll find Jake and Alodia's interactions just as interesting. **

Chapter Three: The Gym Trainer

I was at the end of my line by the time we arrived at the gym. Emily had outrun me earlier and I was forced to stand in the middle of the street, getting stared at by commoners until she noticed my lack of complaining and came back. I'd clipped her in the jaw, though I'm not exactly strong so it didn't do much damage. We walked in awkward silence the rest of the way to the gym. Eventually, Aqua stopped in front of one of the largest buildings I'd seen in the city so far. "Are we here? Alodia, can you tell?" Emily said, all sheepishness forgotten in her excitement to see her brother.

"Well considering the fact it says "Sunnyshore Gym" in big letters, I get the notion we're in the right place." I said dryly. "Honestly, is this what passes for a gym these days? This whole region is pathetic."

"You'll get used to it! Come on Aqua let's go see Jake!" With that statement trainer and pokemon ran into the gym. I shook my head in exasperation and followed after them.

The inside of the gym was, though I loathe admitting it, rather impressive. It resembled our personal gym back at home, which made it huge by commoner standards. All kinds of workout equipment was placed all over the room, and the level of organization and cleanliness made me suspect Emily's mother may be a bit OCD. A large pathway led out in front of us towards a boxing rink the middle of the room where a tall boy was practicing with a punching bag. I couldn't see many details from where we stood but apparently Emily could hear him as she suddenly screamed "Jake!" At the top of her lungs and made a mad dash for the boxing arena. With a roll of my eyes I headed towards it as well.

The boy, who I could only assume was Jake, immedietly jerked him heard towards us at the sound of him sister's scream. His face broke into a wide grin and he ran to the edge of the boxing arena where he easily jumped over it and landed on the ground- just in time to get tackled by his sister. When I reached them, they were still sprawled on the ground and laughing their sorry butts off. I frowned and crossed my arms, making it quite clear I disapproved of this nonsense.

I quickly had enough of waiting for them to get up and said, perfectly in control, "are you two idiots going to lie like that all day?"

Their laughter died instantly. Emily, at least, had the decency to look sheepish as she got up and dusted herself off. Jake, on the other hand, seemed more interested with looking at me. Finally he said "she's tall."

"Really?" Emily turned towards me. "I didn't know that."

"She's a giant."

I felt blood rush to my face. "I am not a giant! You're just short!"

"Actually, I'm taller than you." He replied. I raised an eyebrow at that one: the only person I'd ever met who was taller than me was my mother.

"I doubt that." I said. "How tall are you?"

"5'8."

I smirked. "I'm 5'9."

I could've laughed at his expression, but I was giving him the same once-over he had given me. According to Emily, Jake was seventeen though he looked closer to eighteen in my opinion. He was on the tall side, though I was taller, with fair skin, red hair, and the same green eyes as Emily. The only difference was his weren't fogged over. He clearly worked out a lot, as his muscles where toned though his frame was apparently naturally lean. He probably had to fight for every one of those muscles. He currently wore a black muscle shirt and green cargo pants, hopefully he would change into something more suitable before we left. I weighed my options for a minute before saying "are you planning on wearing that all day?"

"Yeah. So?" He linked his hands together and stretched them up over his head.

"That isn't something you just walk around in!"

"Maybe you don't, Princess, but I do." He dropped his arms back to his side and looked up towards the highest point in the gym, a dueling arena ten feet in the air against the back wall. He turned to his sister, pointedly ignoring me. "Emily, Mom says she'll meet us at the dueling arena."

Emily grinned. "Is that it?"

"And she wants a rematch."

I remembered then that Emily had collected all eight gym badges before ending her pokemon journey. I guess that meant she had beaten her mother in a pokemon battle, and probably Jake as well. Emily beamed. "Well I'd love to have a rematch! Mom was really hard to beat!"

"Well you may loose this time, little sister. You're out of practice!" Jake tapped Aqua on the shoulder to get her attention and began to lead the way to the back of the gym. I reluctantly followed after the two.

Eventually I found myself at the bottom of a staircase. My eye started to twitch. "Do you honestly expect me to walk up there stairs? You've heard of the elevator, correct?"

"Mom and I don't belive in elevators. They're lazy." Jake replied, as if this was a perfectly acceptable thing to say.

"Well I refuse to walk up ten feet of stairs! I have standards!" I crossed my arms over my chest and planted my feet firmly on the ground.

Jake sighed. "Emily, how badly do you want her up there?"

Emily grinned mischievously. "Go ahead."

He nodded and walked over to me. Next thing I know Jake picked me up and flung me over his shoulder like a rag doll! I froze in shock for a minute, giving the siblings enough time to start on their way up the stairs before I came to my senses. As soon as I did, I started kicking and screaming. "Put me down you filthy commoner! Do you have any idea who I am? I can buy you out of house, home, and everything in between! NOW PUT ME DOWN!"

"Geez Emily, is she always this loud?" Jake asked, not changing in pace.

"If you make her mad." Emily replied, both of them ignoring my screams. And I continued to scream at them for what felt like hours until Jake set me down on the ground. I blinked a few times, my latest insult dieing in my throat.

"We've arrived, you're highness." Jake said dryly.

I glared at him as I got to my feet. Dusting off my shirt, more for show than anything else, I turned to Emily. "Emily why did you let him carry me up here like that?!"

"Because it was funny!" Emily said, hands over her mouth to stop giggles from spilling out. She then began looking around, like it would do her any good, eagerness in her stance. "Where's Mom?"

"Right over here!" A low toned but clearly female voice called from one side of the arena. I turned towards it, and saw Emily's mom for the first time. She was on the short side, and had the same slim figure as her son. However she was even more muscled than him, a fact made clear in her silver cycling shorts and black t-shirt. Her blonde hair was cut short and she wore no shoes. Her skin was tanner than both that of her children, probably from years in the sun. There was no way someone with blonde hair naturally had that skin tone. Her eyes gleamed bright and amber with a clear note of crazy bravery she seemed to have passed down to both her children.

Emily grinned. "Mom! Are you ready for our rematch?"

"You bet I am!" The woman called back. "Get into position and we can start! Jake, Alodia, do me a favor and stay there."

I blinked, surprised. "How does she know my name?"

"You're her daughter's best friend, practically sister. Why wouldn't she know your name?" Jake replied, sitting down on the lowest level of the bleachers. When I showed no sign of planning to sit as well he raised an eyebrow. "What is it, your highness?"

"There's no way I'm sitting on that."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. But either way, watch this. I don't think you know just how impressive your best friend is."

Deciding to listen to Jake just this once, I turned to watch as Emily stopped at the other side of the dueling arena. "One on one?" She asked, returning Aqua to her pokeball with one hand and brushing over the five on her belt with the other.

"You bet!" Her mother called. Without hesitation she whipped a pokeball out of seemingly nowhere. "Machamp, show them what you're made of!" She pressed the button on the side and a large, buff pokemon appeared in front of her.

Emily thought for a minute before her fingers came to rest on the pokeball that sat in the second loop of her belt. She pulled it out and pointed it into the dueling area. "Alright Spike, you're up!" She shouted, also pressing the button on her pokeball. I'd seen the pokemon who came out before, but only on Emily's birthdays and it was a little scary to see her rampardos in full on battle mode. It looked its opponent up and down, waiting for an order.

It was Emily's mother who ended up striking first. "Machamp, cross chop!" She shouted. No sooner had the words left her mouth that her pokemon darted forward, headed straight for Spike.

Without a moment's hesitation Emily shouted "Spike, ancient power!" Instantly the floor began to glow green as multiple large sections rose into the air. Spike's eyes glowed green as he shot these rocks toward his opponent, who was gaining on him fast. With the control Spike had over them, not a single one missed. Yet Machamp kept plowing through them, breaking rock after rock. "Ramp!" Spike shouted as the machamp grew within striking distance. He tried to dodge, but it was too late and he was knocked back by the powerful move.

"Spike, screech!" Emily yelled as he tumbled back. The end of the order was drownded out by a horrible, eardrum shattering sound reminiscent of fingernails on a blackboard. Machamp was blown back, a look of clear surprise on its face. And the sound hadn't even faded away when "headbutt!"

Spike charged at Machamp, his head lowered for an attack that would do some serious damage.

Spike was almost upon Machamp when Emily's mother shouted "dynamic punch!" Instantly the fighting type sung his fist at the pokemon that was charging straight at him. Fist met head, and they struggled for a few seconds before Emily's mom said "use your other arms to grab him, then dynamic punch again!"

"Ancient power!" Emily shouted in response. Instantly the floor under Machamp started glowing green, and he was blow back by the rock that blasted out from under his feet. "Now headbutt!"

This time there was no contest. The other pokemon hadn't even gotten to its feet when Spike blew it back with vicious headbutt. Machamp, however, stood back up. It glared at Spike and cracked its four knuckles. "Let's make this count!" Emily's mother said, cracking her knuckles as well. "Focus blast!" The pokemon's four hands came together and ball of light began to appear.

"Screech!" Once again a horrid sound ripped through the area, but it wasn't enough to stop their opponent this time. The ball of light grew bigger, before the other pokemon's hands suddenly turned to face forward, and the ball of light turned into a huge beam headed straight for Spike. It moved too quickly for him to dodge, and he was blow down for the count. For a moment there was silence, until Machamp collapsed from sheer exhaustion. His trainer returned him only a moment before Emily returned Spike. They both whispered something to the closed pokeballs before placing them back in their original location. Jake rose to his feet and said. "I declare it was a tie!"

Emily nodded. "Yep, a tie!"

Her mother sighed, giving her daughter a half exasperated smile. "You are the happiest, most cheerful and powerful trainer I know."

Emily beamed. "I'm glad you think so!" She turned towards the general direction of where I was standing. "What did you think, Alodia?"

I blinked a few times a rubbed my eyes, pulling myself back to reality. "That was extremely barbaric."

Emily shrugged. "I'm sure you'll change your opinion once you battle yourself!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Battle myself? Not a chance."

"Then why are you here?"

"BECAUSE YOU FORCED ME TOO!"

"…oh, right."

I brought a hand to my forehead and sighed in exasperation. "Whatever. Can we please just get going? The sooner we start, the sooner this Arceusforsaken journey will be over!"

Emily's shoulders slumped. "Oh. Okay." She sounded so disappointed I almost considered apologizing. But before I could even think of it someone smacked me hard in the back of the head.

I instantly whipped around to see Jake glaring at me. "H-how dare you!"

"How dare you upset my little sister!" He replied, eyes narrowing. The look of fury in them was enough to cause every molecule of me to scream to back away. But I was a Hofuna, and he was a commoner! When I glared right back at him he added to what he'd said. "You whiney, tight assed bitch!"

My whole brain reeled at that. "W-why- how dare you! How DARE you!" My voice grew higher until I was practically screeching. "Do have the slightest idea who I am?! Just wait until I tell my moth-" And I froze. The anger faded away in half a second. I glared at him, seeing his mouth opening to speak again. "Don't. Just don't." And I darted, heading straight for the stairs.

"W-wait, Alodia!" I heard Emily shout after me. "Where are you going?"

"Unova!" I shouted back. "I'll stay with my grandparents! Go on your journey with your arceusdamned brother and not me!" I stormed the rest of the way down the stairs and headed for the exit. I was so lost in my own head that I didn't hear the sound of pounding feet heading straight for me until Emily crashed into my back.

We both went tumbling to the floor, but Emily wasn't done yet. She scrambled up onto her hands and knees and looked at me. "Please don't go, Alodia! I'm sorry about what Jake said, he's a bit rude but he never really means it! We'll get your mother and sister back, Sinnoh's best are on it!" Her eyes were wide and pleading, despite being fogged over.

I growled in my throat. Damn those eyes. "Fine. But he better watch his attitude."

"Whatever you say, princess." I yelped as once again Jake lifted me into the air and threw me over his shoulder like a rag doll.

"You rude, incompetent commoner! PUT ME DOWN!" I shrieked, once again kicking and screaming.

He shrugged. "This is what you get for trying to run away. I'll put you down once we reach the flying types."

I paled at the thought. "Oh dear Arceus not the flying types!"

"Sorry, Alodia, But they're the fastest way to get to SangemTown." Emily said, getting to her feet. "And I'm sorry if Jake upset you."

"Oh don't worry, I'm over it." I replied, silently kneeing the boy in the chest. The message, although Emily wasn't aware of it, was clear: go to hell, commoner boy.

**Who made a new friend? Well it certainly wasn't Alodia…and trust me, this won't be the last time Jake carries around a kicking and screaming Alodia. How else are they supposed to get her to do things like crossing ? Again, sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. And if you're wondering about the name of this chapter it's because Jake is one of his mother's gym trainers, the strongest one of her gym trainers actually.**

**-Hero of the Dark**


	5. Chapter 4: The Professor

**I'm updating! After a REALLY long break! And so you want to know why this update took so long? Well, the answer is very simple: MY LAST CHAPTER GOT NO REVIEWS! And I figured, if no one's reviewing then no one is reading so why should I bother to hurry? And if you were reading but not reviewing then you, my friend, suck. A lot. **

Chapter 4: The Professor

Screw this. Screw life. Screw the idiot who invented pokemon journeys in the first place. I groaned and buried my face in Jane's feathers as we headed down. I didn't know how long we'd been flying, but I knew it was long enough to make the original trip to Sunnyshore seem short. This time I paid attention to the movement of the large flying type and the second she stopped I scrambled off. "Oh, thank Arceus!" I cried as my feet hit the ground. "Land!"

Emily giggled as she dropped to the ground from a foot or so above. My cheeks turned crimson, so I turned up my nose to try and conceal it. Jake rolled his eyes. "Why do you even bother turning your nose up? Is it just rich bitch policy or something?"

This time my entire face turned flushed. "W-why you filthy commoner! I'll have you know this is how my mother taught me to act and I honor every instruction she gives me!"

"So you're a rich bitch, a tight ass, AND a kiss up? Are there any other unappealing qualities I should know about?" He raised an eyebrow as if this were a perfectly acceptable way of addressing me.

It took all my self control not to strangle him.

"Come on, you don't have to like each other but it'd be nice if the two of you didn't try to kill each other with words all the time." Emily said with a childish frown on her face.

I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. "Whatever."

Jake made a swiping motion across his neck with his index finger then pointed at me. I made a few mocking gestures of boxing. And thus we entered a silent argument all the way to the lab. If Aqua noticed she ignored it and Emily remained blissfully unaware. When we reached the lab door Aqua stopped and allowed Emily to come and knock on the door. Almost instantly it was opened by a short man with large glasses and a lab coat. He blinked a couple of times and then smiled. "Emily, Jake, it's been far too long! Come in!" And we were herded inside.

The lab was top of the line: pristine and sanitary with state of the art equipment built into the walls. It was nice, even by my standards. "Sit down, sit down." The man pulled seats out from around a table. Aqua gently nudged Emily into her seat, Jake took the one next to her, and I sat down across from the Professor.

The Professor looked at me with curiosity. "Emily, Jake, who is this?

I was opening my mouth to speak when Jake butted in. "This is Princess Tight Ass."

"THAT'S IT!" It was only Aqua's quick reactions that kept me from pouncing on Jake like a wild animal. I flailed in her arms for a minute before I decided that I stood no chance against Aqua and stopped struggling. The large pokemon, after deciding that I wasn't pulling something, put me back down in my seat.

"Aqua must have gotten a lot stronger since the last time I met her, if she can keep a kicking and screaming teenage girl in her grasp with ease." The Professor said, looking quite impressed.

I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest, a bit more than miffed at the way the large water type had treated me. So, as I knew it would do me no good against her, I rounded on the Professor. "My name is Alodia Hofuna of the Hofuna Family, the richest family in Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Unova. You may address me as Lady Alodia."

I heard a snort and glared at Jake with venom in my eyes. "Shut up." I turned back to the Professor. "I don't know why I'm here, other than for these two to say hi."

"Actually, we're here to pick something up." Emily said. "Professor, do you have it?"

"Of course, your father entrusted it into my care." The Professor got up and walked over to one of the machines in the wall. He typed in a code and a panel of what looked like misty glass rose up to reveal an egg in a cushioned glass container. I froze. It wasn't because there was an egg, or even because the egg had apparently been laying on finer cushions than me that shocked me.

What shocked me was that it was undeniably the same egg Emily's father has tied to give to me. The one I'd refused to take, as I didn't plan to catch or battle any pokemon on this journey. "Emily…" I said, a threatening tone to my voice. "That egg better be here for you."

"Nope!" Emily said, grinning mischievously. "It's for you!"

Aqua had to stop me from hurting someone twice that day. And this time I screeched a good deal more. "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE WORD NO BEFORE? I DON'T WANT SOME STUPID POKEMON, AND I CERTINALLY DON'T WANT TO BE RESPOSIBLE FOR AN EGG! AND A NON PEDIGREE POKEMON AT THAT! I DIDN'T SAY NO BECAUSE I WAS SHY OR SOME OTHER STUPID COMMONER THING, I EARTH TO GOODNESS DIDN'T WANT IT!" By the time I'd calmed down enough that Aqua determined I was safe to release my throat was sore from screaming.

After a few minutes of sitting there my breathing evened out- just in time for Aqua to drop the egg in my lap. I immediately stiffened like she'd set a bomb there. "Emily, get this egg away from me. Now."

Emily childishly stuck her tongue out. "No! The egg is yours."

"Emily, once this whole ordeal is over you'll pay dearly for your crimes. Now take the egg away."

"I think we should take it away from her too." Jake said. "Do we really want her raising a baby pokemon?"

"For once, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I agree with Jake." I jabbed a finger at the egg. "I. Don't. Want. It."

Emily pouted. "But Alooodddiiiiaaaa…"

"No." Finally daring to touch the egg I picking it up in both hands and placed it on the table. I got to my feet and dusted off my shorts. I looked at the Professor. "Just give it to a trainer or something. I'm leaving." I then glared at Jake and Emily. "And you two better get up and come with me."

"Wait, don't you want a starter pokemon?" The Professor called after me. "I gave your sister Camillia her starter three years ago. She told me she had an older sister who refused to go on a journey and if you ever showed up, to shove a starter in your hands whether you wanted it or not."

Silence. Complete and utter silence. I looked at the door, just a foots length away. I could take one step and be outside. Then I'd cleanse my hands of the entire business and we could get on to finishing this stupid thing as soon as possible.

"I have more than just traditional starters, you know. I'm sure we could find some pokemon you'd li-"

"I am sick and tired of your annoying commoner voice!" I snapped. I took a deep breath and muttered, just loud enough for him to hear "just give me the Arceusdamned egg."

Emily squealed and clapped her hands in delight, Jake groaned. The professor smiled and picked it up. "Do you have something to wrap it in?"

"Of course not." I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. "They barely gave me enough material for myself."

"I have something!" Emily shouted, digging through her bag before pulling out small, periwinkle blanket. "This is the blanket I used with both of my eggs." She held it out to Jake. "Jake, show her how to do it."

"Why me?" Jake asked.

"Because I don't know where the egg is and if I screw up Alodia will tell us to forget it and storm out!" Emily said, shoving the blanket in her brother's hands.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Fine." He gestured at me. "Get over here, Princess Tight-Ass."

I glared at him for that comment, but walked over anyways. Jake gestured for the professor to set the egg back down on the table and he did so. "Watch carefully." Jake said, placing the blanket on to the table. He then picked up the egg and laid it on top of said blanket. With a few complicated looking folds and pulls, the egg was bundled up in the blanket. I just stared at it in confused silence. Jake rolled his eyes. "Whatever. With any luck, you'll never be alone with a pokemon egg. You'd kill it by trying to diamond studd the shell or something."

I looked at him for a moment in shocked silence. Finally, I managed to say "diamonds are tacky. I prefer emeralds."

"Unbelievable!" Jake shouted, getting to his feet.

Emily pouted. "She's new to this! Come on, she's got enough guts to stand up to you."

"I think he's jealous of my height." I said, taking the egg from the table and placing it in my bag. I was unsurprised to find Emily had set a small area aside for it. I got a fierce glare for that one. He knew I had the upper hand now, and he didn't like it. And I wasn't about to loose it. "Do you have a problem, barbaric dwarf?"

It took Aqua, Spike, and one of the professor's dragon types to hold Jake back.

I stood there, smirking at him until the pokemon managed to force him into his seat. "What did I say? Barbaric."

Jake scowled. "Don't push your luck, princess."

Emily frowned and crossed her arms. "Is it really that hard to get along? I mean, come on! You've got a lot in common!"

"With that thing?" I asked. "Emily I'm offended!"

"Boo hoo. Poor baby." Jake said, turning to glare at me in his chair.

"Can I slap him?" I asked, looking at the professor. He shook his head. I frowned. "Don't be surprised when you find out the entire Professor program has been bought by the Hofunas- and that you're fired."

"She wants to try and hurt me?" Jake said, smirking. "I'd like to see her try."

"Uh…Jake, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Emily said, a worried tone entering her voice.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

"This isn't a good idea-"

"It is if you want to make it one, Princess Tight-Ass."

"-and they're doing it anyways."

I looked at the Professor. "Now can I hit him?" He shrugged and I grinned. "I'll take that as a yes." I walked up to Jake, drew my hand back, a hit him with all my might.

A crack like a whip on stone burst through the room and I jerked my hand back, hissing in pain. I'd never hit someone that hard! Ow, ow, ow! And then I noticed Jake, and it was well worth it.

I had knocked Jake out of her chair and onto the floor, where he lay with a half shocked, half confused look in his eyes. A massive bruise has already forming on his left cheek. I pointed with my good hand and began to laugh.

Emily sighed. "Alodia is a super rich heiress that could be held for a high ransom. She's been trained in the art of self defense since she was five."

"You could have said that earlier!" Jake protested, getting to his feet.

"I tried to, but you wouldn't shut up!" Emily said, looking rightfully annoyed by this point.

And during the whole exchange, I just stood there and laughed.

Eventually Jake looked up and gave me the death glare. My laughter finally subsided. I rolled my eyes at him and looked at the Professor. "Can we go now? I want this stupid thing over and done with."

The Professor shrugged. "I don't see why not. Make sure to take good care of that egg!"

"Yeah, right." I muttered, and headed out the door.

The room was quiet, save the panting of a man in uniform as he ran down the path. His combat boots on stone sent echoes through the spacious area until he came to a stop at the far end of the room. There he stood, hands on his knees for a minute. He panted, and once he managed to regain his breath he looked up at the man who sat on a throne above him. "Sir!"

The man looked up from where he was stroking his hand along his oddly female-looking kimono. It was a pink color that seemed to gleam in the bright room. The expensive outfit was put on with clear lack of caring, one shoulder poking out from where the kimono slumped. He nodded, acknowledging the man. "It's been a while since you've come calling. Report."

"The target has begun a journey accompanied by parties Emily Jones and Jake Jones." The man said. "The target and her two companions have most likely reached SandGemTown via the flying pokemon a Elite Four Member, Helio Flambe and are now on their way to Route-"

"They couldn't have just set out and already have flown to SandGemTown. Why did it take so long for this information to reach me?" The man said, his face and voice completely blank of any emotion.

The man gulped. He'd suspected this might happen. "My apologies, sir. I had to deliver the news to the other members of the court-"

"So I came last?"

"N-no sir, oh course not sir. You're the best, sir!"

The man was silent. Then, he reached a hand in to his robe.

"Sir?" The man said, a cold dread beginning to fill his being.

"You told the other members before me." He said, pulling his weapon of choice from the specially built sheath that wrapped around his chest. He easily pulled it out of the kimono and looked at it, as if admiring the sheen. "I do not like to come in second."

"Sir, please! I'll come to you first next time I promise!"

"Lies." The man said, face still emotionless, and threw the weapon.

It dug itself directly in to the messenger's heart. With a cry of pain, the messenger collapsed. The first man stood up and walked down a few steps to stand before the limp figure. "Dish soap and water." He said to himself, pulling the weapon out. And with that he headed to the sink to clean his beloved scissors.

**It's the return of scissor boy! :O! I don't know how often he'll appear, but we'll probably see him in a couple more cut scenes like the one above before his  
official debut. Who's looking forward to that? Because if you are, you'll have to just have to hold on because it'll probably be a long-ass time! But then again, maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see.**

**-Hero of the Dark**


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